“Secrets and Lies” S2 Finale Recap: The Brother / The Truth

Eric Warner uncovers more of his family’s lies, and eventually, the truth about his wife’s killer.

(ABC/Ron Batzdorff)

(ABC/Ron Batzdorff)

DADDY DEAREST

At the top of the two hour season finale, Eric and Danny are camped out in a parking lot after tracing Kate’s extortion money with security tracking software, and Eric is in shock after his father drives past them! What reason could his father POSSIBLY have to be out at this trucker stop in the middle of nowhere if he’s not in some way connected to the money?

There is none. He most certainly is connected to the money, and to the trucker stop, but not in the way you’d think.

THE WARNER FAMILY TREE

Danny sneaks around the lot the next morning to piece together that the trucking business owner, RB, is somehow related, being that his last name is Warner, and there’s a picture of him and Eric’s dad on the wall.

Eric does some sleuthing to find RB’s mom, Corinne. When he visits her home, he quickly discovers RB is not only related, but he’s Eric’s half-brother!

His father has had a secret family his entire life. And his father isn’t the one suffering from cancer, Corinne is. This explains a lot.

THE COPS SWARM IN

As usual, Detective Cornell is never too far behind Eric. Just as Eric’s dad and RB join the party, they’re quickly cuffed, and poor Corinne learns her son is being arrested for extortion and her husband is a person of interest in a murder investigation.

Although Cornell is sweet enough not to break the bigamy charge to Corinne, it isn’t long before the poor sick woman learns the truth.

BLOOD RUNS THICK

While DNA seems to be public enemy number one for Eric, DNA is all Cornell has to start putting together the puzzle that is Kate’s murder. As she hunkers down with the lab tech, she gets closer and closer to cracking the case!

IS THERE A MURDERER AT THE PRECINCT?

The Warner family gathers at Cornell’s office as Eric’s father’s and his half-brother’s arrests get sorted out. And surprisingly Patrick pops up out of nowhere, seemingly out on bail — just in time to blame Eric for all of their family’s tragedies.

And he’s not afraid to point the finger at Eric for their mother’s life-threatening fall down the stairs that left her in a permanent coma!

Does Eric’s temper get the best out of him? Did he push Kate off their office building just like he pushed his mother down the stairs??

SELF-DEFENSE IS THE BEST DEFENSE

But what does Patrick really know anyway? Amanda is quick to defend her brother, Eric, and claims self defense on his behalf. She explains he was saving her from their abusive mom.

RIVETING ROOFTOP RENDEZVOUS

As we zoom into the second half of the season finale, we find ourselves back on top of the roof of SEG, exactly where we began in the season premiere. This time around, a drunk Patrick is threatening to jump. Will Eric and Amanda be able to talk him down? Or will they see another loved one be flung off the roof in a matter of weeks?

— SPOILER ALERT — SPOILER ALERT — SPOILER ALERT —

I can’t be any more clear, but please don’t continue past this point if you don’t want to know the ending to this tantalizing mystery. And no, I was not correct all along in who the murderer was. Shame on me, though all of my questions about the Warners were spot on.

To tie up an erroneous loose end, ex-cop Danny finally tracks down his daughter Rachel, who has taken up hooking. Although she isn’t receptive to him, Eric convinces her of Danny’s true intentions and the father and daughter lovingly reunite.

But there’s never a dull moment, and during their sweet embrace, the cavalry swoops in to arrest Eric for the attempted murder of his biological mother.

Not surprisingly, he retains his sister Amanda as counsel. The two sit down with Cornell and start re-hashing their alibis for the night of Kate’s murder.

And here’s where I’ll warn you again….SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!

As Eric runs down his night and details who he saw, Cornell asks him to identify who he DIDN’T see that night. After much thought, he realizes Amanda was never in sight (and just to satisfy myself, you’ll notice that his secretary ALSO was not in sight).

Incredulously, Amanda balks at the idea of having killed Kate. But it’s not long before she cracks under Cornell’s pressure and confesses to being jealous of Kate’s pregnancy. In her rage, she pushed Kate off the roof to her demise.

SURPRISE ENDING

In a surprise twist, Detective Cornell informs Amanda she’s pregnant! Yup, all those times Cornell hung out with the DNA lab tech, she was running every test imaginable. So really, even Amanda’s reason for killing Kate doesn’t hold up.

After she’s locked up, she then has the nerve to ask Eric to foster her child.

CLIFFHANGER

Peering in on Andrea as she puts the Warner case to bed, she arrives home to find a knocked over lamp and a light streaming from her bedroom. When she walks in on her strung out daughter, she notices her at-home gun is missing. Then, someone fires three shots!

I guess we’ll have to wait til next season to find out what happens next!

CORNELL CONFIDENTIAL

Flash forward to thirty two months later and Eric has taken ownership of Amanda’s baby girl. His family may have been a mess, but hopefully he can turn around their sour Warner past with his new little toddler.